Comparing World-Class Headphones Conclusions

Conclusions
Well, obviously, the SR-009 is off-the-chart good. If you've got a hearty wallet, and the inclination, go for it, you'll not be disappointed. Well, except you may not be able to listen to any thing else, ever again.

I was a little surprised the LCD-2 didn't fair better against the competition. It just seemed a bit bloomy and lacking in realism, what with the speed of some of the other headphones on the table. Still, it's luxuriant, liquid warmth made me very, very happy.

I love/hate the Sennheiser HD 800. They do so much right with their extraordinary coherence and imaging. If I were a recording professional, they'd be at the top of my list for their unerring quickness and clarity. But I'm afraid their somewhat excessive treble keeps them off my "music for pleasure" list. Let me admit, however, that when I purchased all the gear for my measurement and evaluation needs, they were number one with a bullet in terms of a reference headphone that would let me hear every hair and wart on a recording. Probably the world's most accurate headphone.

The HiFiMAN HE-6 was more of a disappointment than I expected. I made sure I had a very good headphone amp for this test as I had heard it was very important for them to sound their best. Well, headphone amps for dynamic cans don't come much better than the Apex Pinnacle and they still didn't shine. I'm guessing they're just a bit underdamped.

The surprisingly good headphone of the bunch was the HE-500. They held their own surprisingly well in world-class company. No,they didn't have the liquid juicy goodness of the LCD-2, but they did sound somewhat more "right down the middle." I'd say these had the best price performance ratio on the table, and might get a stronger recommendation from me than the LCD-2, as they were a bit more tight and neutral, and possibly more likely to satisfy a wider range of tastes. I'd say these are not only great listening cans, but also great headphones for professionals who want something more pleasantly listenable than the HD 800.

Some Big Thanks
First of all, I'd like to thank the Stax Mafia, in locations undisclosed, for their gentle request to do this type of listening test, and for the loan of the Blue Hawaii and Stax cans. I know there's more to come, and I remain your humble servant in this capacity. (What choice do I really have?)

A big thanks goes out to HeadRoom for the loan of the Wadia 861SE , and to Todd the Vinyl Junkie for the loan of the spectacular Apex Pinnacle ---- probably the finest headphone amp for dynamic and planar magnetic headphones I've had the pleasure of listening to in the privacy of my home --- it was pure pleasure,and for the HiFiMAN HE-6.

Lastly, an enormous thanks to my enthusiastic readers, for without you the world would be filled with Beats by Dre, and I'd be doing unboxing videos for peanuts on YouTube. I love this hobby, and I'm privileged to serve you.

... not about the efficiency of the drivers your tested but that of the reviewer... Pretty amazing you managed all that over a couple of days including a write up! The video did show signs of someone ready to crash to bed though ;). Very concise yet informative, I like it!
arnaud

Perhaps the Rev. 2 would have been a more fair comparison, specially in the highs (top octave) department.

Anyway, terrific article. Just a pair of Sony MDR-R10's, Beyer T1, HE90 and the Ergo AMT + Ergo AMP 2 to the table and the meeting of the world's best beasts had been completed. Not an easy task, hehe.

Me too. I'd love to have the emails and recording of the discussions behind closed doors at Sennheiser. i.e....

Joe: "It's too damn bright, don't you guys get it? C'mon, the whole world's leaving you behind."
Sally: "Well, Joe, there is such a thing as accuracy, don't you think?"
Miguel: "Yeah, Sally, let's build an altar to accuracy and sacrifice the firstborn thousand or so 801's to the god of accuracy."
Jeff, the Practical Project Manager: "All right team players, Jeff has got your solution. We'll produce a better sounding headphone and we'll say it's the most accurate, and if any of those Grado/Beyer fanboys give us a hard time, we'll post reams of data from our own tests to prove it."

You probably meant white noise instead of pink noise. The power spectral density of pink noise follows a 1/f rule (equal power given any octave regardless of bandwidth) while white noise shows a flat power spectral density (equal power for a frequency band of the same bandwidth).

Humm, while I can take pink noise, white noise is pretty awful to listen to, regardless of headphone. Reason it that - although flat in lin scale - this turns into increasing loudness as frequency goes up make it very unbalanced. Conversely, pink noise does sound more balanced... So, Tyll, maybe you're using pink noise after all...?

It was pink noise ... stereo pink noise (each channel different) so that you don't get any bass build-up. I changed it back to "equal energy per octave", for pink noise. White noise is un-listenable. Brown noise ... well I get that in the morning.

What I too see is that the dynamic ones ran in SE with the stock cables. Stax phones go obviously balanced. That is a disadvantage for the dynamic ones, probably worse for the HE6's if the 1/4 jack adapter were used.

Fantastic job, Tyll. No comparative headphone review I have read before (and I admit to having given up on them on other sites) has ever delivered so much information, so concisely, and so objectively. Plus, we get your trademark humor! You have a unique ability in this regard, and the objectivity of the InnerFidelity Lab has put you into a unique position. Thanks for being here! :)

Thank you for the comparison Tyll. Would you mind giving us catalog numbers for the CDs of the non-Chesky albums? The reason I ask is there could be different masterings of the other CDs, and I would like to hear these same version.

Very enjoyable and informative review. I had always secretly cheered the fact you are no longer focused on selling headphones as in your previous job, because I always felt you were being limited in what you can say or do by your position for various reasons. Now without those limitations, I'm enjoying your unfiltered and more ambitious explorations much more.

I was hoping you'd do the Rev.2 of LCD-2 too, as well as the 007mk2.5, but this is already far more than what anyone else has ever done. The Sony R10 and T1 would've been welcome in the group too I think?

Dude, I'd be careful. You listen to the 009 and you'll be spoiled forever. I can't tell you how STUNNED I was at the clarity and dynamics. You could not only hear the cellist breathing through his nose, you could tell he needed to clip his nose hairs.

While I don't have a Blue Hawaii, I did feel when I received the 009s that they may well be the king of vocals over the Sony R10, Stax 4070, LCD-2 and HD-800s, but I don't have the others here to compare, though they were the headphones that impressed me most in this regard. Also your thoughts on the 009's bass -- I was thinking the same thing, that they are unusually great. I was used to associating 'stats with "this is how treble is done right" and orthos with "this is how bass is done right", but the 009 seems to me to deliver bass with the same brilliance as they deliver the rest of the frequency range.

Awesome comparison test Tyll, thank you so much! Just curious, how would you compare the Thunderpants to this crew? I was planning to buy an LA7000 as a sealed complement to my 007 Mk1, but am now leaning towards the Thunderpants instead.

The latest Thunderpants are indeed the best sealed cans I've heard, but I don't think they'd quite match up to the performance of these cans. I suspect the best of sealed cans will never quite match up to the best of open cans.

Dear Tyll,
Nice review!
Totally agree with your 007 and 009 review.
My 007A is an Mk2 who recently got the diaphragm changed to the MK2.5 so they indeed sound forward and seem easier to drive.
Loving my 009. It's not perfect, but it's a great step over the 007.
Could you compare the 009 to the HE90 if you get the chance?
Thanks,
Erico

What can I say, your reviews and articles are getting better and better. You are a very valuable source for headphones info!
I am very intrigued by the significant - but not audible- THD rise on the one channel at 100dB for HE-500. You wrote that you were not listening to those levels, but you are neglecting that 100dB peaks are not hard to reach even with moderate levels on HQ recorded music, so I think it would be still audible.
Could it be that something changed on the HE-500 *after* you measured it (which is some months before you done this comparison - and I don’t imply burn in -)? Maybe there was a hair, or some dirt, near the driver on one channel only, which did not really vibrate till the 100dB level? It would be very interesting to repeat the THD plot now and compare the results.

What a significant, lengthy review of many of the world's greatest headphones and equipment. The good comments of several readers lead to further discussion and food for thought. However, no one has addressed the beams of lights coming down and illuminating the equipment and Tyll's review in the video!!! Don't be fooled for a minute that these beams were from the lamp bulbs above the table. Oh no! These light beams are proof that alien intelligence, advanced civilizations are monitoring Tyll and Inner Fidelity! And no wonder! Click around this website and see what treasures are there for discovery. "They" have finally found something worthy enough on this crazy messed up planet that they have aborted their invasions plans. Tyll you are doing work that is so great, really, and all of us appreciate your efforts. (Note that most of the beings were seen wearing Sennheiser HD 800s as they flew off, which I thought was fascinating). Keep up the Universally good work!

Great piece. I know it was a huge undertaking, so thanks for all the hard work for providing this great resource.

I was fortunate enough to have a loaner set of the Audeze on hand for a while, and I thought they were absolutely fantastic—although with nothing of comparable quality to compare them to, I wasn't really able to identify the ways in which they fell short of perfection. But still, wow. Such pretty sounding headphones. If only they weren't so heavy.